Carlos Sainz is aware that he is the cork in the bottle of F1’s driver market, but the outgoing Ferrari driver is resolute on prioritizing his own interests when it comes to making a pivotal decision regarding his future.
Following the Scuderia’s decision to replace him next season with Lewis Hamilton, Sainz has assumed the role of a highly sought-after free agent.
With Mercedes being the only race-winning team with a confirmed vacancy, the Spaniard’s prospects are both tantalizing and uncertain.
Offers from Williams, Sauber-Audi, and Alpine are on Sainz’s desk, and while all have plan B options ready to go, their priority continues to sit with Sainz.
But an inevitable consequence of the three-time Grand Prix winner’s game of patience is the hold-up it has produced for several of Sainz’s collegues whose plans are now dependent on the Spaniard’s next move.
Sainz acknowledges the impact his decision might have and its domino effect on the situation of others, but downplays its significance.
“Yeah, I am conscious of it , but at the same time I don’t think it’s going to change because it’s only the timing that I’m changing,” Sainz said.
“I’m probably not changing the outcome of anyone as probably all teams by now have their priorities and their decision-making depending on each scenario.
“At the same time, this sport and this world has taught me to be a bit more on the selfish side and look out for myself, and take the decision that I need to take whenever I need to take it and whenever I have all of the options on the table and I’m ready to take the decision, and not rush things if I don’t need to.
“The teams have been very patient and I thank them for that. But I’ve also had to be patient — it’s not like I’m the only one here deciding. At the same time, I thank everyone that is having to hang in there while I take the decision.”
While appreciating the teams’ patience, Sainz admitted to being surprised by the current flurry of early driver market activity.
“What I don’t fully understand is why the market is happening so early this year?,” he said.
“Why everyone is so much in a rush, when I remember it used to be in the summer break, September, July, when all of those situations started to happen.”
©Ferrari
With a decision yet to be made, Sainz has reverted his focus on the track, where he hopes Ferrari can overcome their recent slump, particularly after a floor upgrade that compromised performance.
“I see Silverstone as an investment,” he said. “We invested – and probably did not optimize the Silverstone weekend, because you spend FP1 and FP2 comparing floors and not having your teammate as a reference to optimize the car and the car performance – to potentially making yourselves faster in five or six races’ time when we can learn what we can apply from Silverstone into the wind tunnel and apply it for the future.
“Already for Hungary we have a small upgrade that hopefully makes things better, but Silverstone was an investment and hopefully improving the car a bit more in the medium and longer term.”
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